20 ms·

I don't think I buy this idea, and I don't think most honest developers would either. People want to know when their users aren't happy with their service, and

• harrytuttle 13y ago
  That is true for most cases, but when shareholders and business come into the picture, the honest developers don't get a look in. It's shut up or don't get paid. If Google lost 25% of its free userbase and converted only 10% of that 25% into Google Apps customers, and left the other 75% with advertising clicks it's a win situation for the business and shareholders. Google is not immune to capitalism or business mantra unfortunately. For reference, as an idealist and a bit of a Marxist, I'm not a fan of this but it's the way it is at the moment.
• jusben1369 13y ago
  I think this is always a confusion point. Prior to the internet "user" and "customer" were pretty much synonymous. Now they can be entirely different. Users get confused when they miss this critical distinction.
  • jpadkins 13y ago
    No, everything is not new on the internet. Historically, this has always been the Media business model (newspaper, radio, TV, magazines, etc). Editors have balanced users and customers for a 100+ years.
    • jusben1369 13y ago
      Yes I agree. Good point.